Like several other high-level footballers, the former Inter Milan player encountered serious alcohol problems during his career.
Fredy Guarín, the name of this former player necessarily rings a bell. A Colombian international (58 caps), this relay midfielder notably spent time with AS Saint-Etienne (between 2006 and 2008) and Inter Milan (from 2012 to 2016). During his career, he developed an addiction to alcohol.
“Unfortunately, at some point I got ‘distracted’ and got hooked on alcohol: I made a lot of mistakes, I made bad decisions, I hurt a lot of people, I hurt my loved ones and my friends. On social media I have been immortalized in bad or strange situations, because alcohol has always been the worst trigger for everything that happens to me”he told the magazine Semana.
Fredy Guarín, the descent into hell
Now aged 37, Guarín is convalescing. “I am 100% alcoholic and I admit it. I am a recovering drug addict. I was an alcoholic for several years. When I left Millonarios, I reached my lowest point because during those years my addiction became very serious. I was no longer working in training, I had lost my dignity, the trust of those close to me and the most important and precious thing I have, namely my three children. I lost a lot of things on a sentimental and romantic level”deplores the one who returned to his native country.
The native of Puerto Boyacá came close to a tragic outcome. “Do you want to know if I came close to death or prison? Yes, the truth is that in this dark path I was on, I was close to death because I had no respect, I had no limits, I had no courage and I let myself drag you deeper into this hole every day. I knocked on the gates of hell”concludes the winner of the 2011 Europa League with FC Porto.
